My U.S. Pat. No. Re. 33196, granted Apr. 10, 1990, my U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,356, granted May 8, 1990, and my aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 6,848,569, disclose reciprocating slat conveyors that are adapted to handle heavy bulk loads, including garbage, scrap metal, and other materials. These conveyors are characterized by laterally spaced apart movable conveyor slats and laterally spaced apart valley regions between the movable slat conveyors. These conveyors are adapted to withstand heavy bulk material being dropped onto them.
There is a need for cleaning these conveyors as they are being operated to remove material. U.S. Pat. No. 6,033,179, granted Mar. 7, 2000, to William S. Abbott, discloses a clean out mechanism that is usable with reciprocating slat conveyors that are composed of contiguous slats having coplanar upper surfaces. This mechanism of this patent is not suitable for cleaning out a reciprocating slat conveyor that is composed of laterally spaced apart movable slats with valley regions between the movable slats, such as disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 6,848,569. A principal object of the present invention is to provide a clean out apparatus that is usable for sweeping clean the movable slats and fixed valley regions between the slats which make up the conveyor disclosed by my U.S. Pat. No. 6,848,569, and/or in similar conveyors.